Monday, March 31, 2003
exciting
One of the singers in the cartoon band The Four Fours(*) is named Kip Woo. This is of no interest to almost all of you, I'm sure. But I think it's fab.
(*) which I don't read regularly, but which is also written by the woman who does Cat and Girl, to which Casey turned me on.
Wednesday, March 26, 2003
i listened to the supreme court arguments this morning
And they were fabulous, especially Lawrence v. Texas, the anti-sodomy argument, which was not only fabulous, but hilarious in a squirmy way (i.e., it was the lawyer for Texas's first appellate argument, and, alas for Texas, it showed). But I'm not going to describe how I got to listen to these arguments, nor do I have time to describe them yet, because I have a possible emergency motion to respond to. Grr. We'll see when I have time. For now, though, you might want to read Dahlia Lithwick's article on the argument. Or Sherry Colb's article on findlaw about it. Or this blog account.
And then there's Linda Greenhouse's article, which has this excerpt: It was a cultural as well as a constitutional moment, marked by the presence in the courtroom of many gay men and women from among the core of elite Washington lawyers. The seats in the center of the courtroom reserved for members of the Supreme Court bar were all claimed by 6:30 this morning for the 11 o'clock argument.
I wasn't in the courtroom, but I could hear the argument. And Paul Smith from Jenner and Block, who argued the case pro bono for Lawrence and Garner, almost made me weepy.
Tuesday, March 25, 2003
moody (though really not nearly as much as I would be otherwise)
I've given up on waiting outside to see Lawrence v. Texas, the antisodomy case. Chances are all the slots are taken already. Which sucks, because Joanna Grossman and Brian Lehman's article on findlaw has gotten me all hyped up about seeing it. And there's this article(*) on Slate as well(*). But Matthew and I have an alternate plan. Wish us luck.
(*) OHMYGOD, the "historians" brief discussed in the Slate article cites my friend Meghan's law review piece!!!
(**) An article that has a line saying "Though medical or scientific groups often file friend of the court briefs, and legal briefs necessarily deal with historical records, a strictly academic brief is less common—no such brief was filed in Bowers." Hey! I wrote an article on the former phenomenon! Not sure why the author's distinguishing academic briefs from scientific briefs, though---a scientific brief could very well be academic at the same time.
Monday, March 24, 2003
sigh
All day long, Matthew has been laying out the groundwork for not camping out with me all night to watch the anti-sodomy case get argued. So this might not happen. Sigh.
aww
Town orders "salamander crossing" signs.
Sunday, March 23, 2003
feeling local
My Advisory Neighborhood Commission Commissioner has an editorial in the Post today about preserving our more recent past.
feeling not so frivolous
Solicitor leaves conservative mark.
feeling frivolous
Fourteen Songs To Listen To While George Bush Blows Up The World. And 10 Randomly Generated American Military Operation Names. Plus, don't forget to Get Your War On.
Yes, I deal through humor. Because I have that "ironic temperament" that Jedediah Purdy hates.
Friday, March 21, 2003
random things
Vikram Amar writes (on Writ) Can't Win for Losing - the Bizarre World of the Eleventh Amendment, Governing Suits in Federal Court Against States.
Salon also has an article talking about the environmental effects of war in Iraq.
Also, some hilarity from my friend peebles:
> Kim Jong Il has a livejournal!!
>
> http://www.livejournal.com/users/kim_jong_il__/
Thursday, March 20, 2003
a buncha random things
My blog is profiled on law.com? Aww, cool! But the author of the article, Robert Ambrogi, also says: [M]any bloggers see themselves as a kind of new journalist, reporting and commenting on current events in a single stroke. This is true of many of the lawyers with blogs, some of whom have built up loyal followings of readers who look to them to report current developments in a field and, at the same time, to provide perspective.
Count me out of that category. Though I've gotten more reporterly in the last year and a half, I still consider my web page to be an online journal, and one that is, at least to some extent, "introspectively personal." Though less so than before, when I didn't have as official a job and all.
Also, hey, on APwire, Senate Rejects Drilling in Alaska Refuge. And here's another article on it.
And from the Washington Post, Environmental Damages a Concern: Experts Fear Effects of War on Persian Gulf Region Could Be 'Irreversible'.
Wednesday, March 19, 2003
one thing
Also, there are some great lyrics in "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight" by The Postal Service (a collaboration of Ben Gibbard from Death Cab for Cutie and Jimmy Tamborello aka Dntel): d.c. sleeps alone tonight
you seem so out of context
in this gaudy apartment complex
a stranger with your door key
explaining that i am just visiting
and i am finally seeing why i was the one worth leaving
the district sleeps alone tonight
after the bars turn out their lights
and send the autos swerving
into the loneliest evening
and i am finally seeing
why i was the one worth leaving
Yeah, this is exactly the sort of happywistful pop I like. Thank you.
this used to be me
"I thought I had shaken the 'Law & Order' bug, only to find myself living with a man who would end up watching the show every time he picked up the remote," from an article on Salon about Law & Order. Thank goodness I no longer have a television and am dating someone without one either. But here's another interesting link on the phenomenon surrounding the show.
Tuesday, March 18, 2003
quick
An article on Salon about how the chemical industry has been blocking anti-terrorism safeguards for chemical plants.
And an interesting distinction is made by Eugene Volokh in an article about precedent-setting and slippery slope arguments and Iraq. An excerpt: If all this is true, then our decision to invade Iraq will likely make a difference as a precedent only when five factors are simultaneously present: 1) The nation involved—or at least countries with decisive influence over that nation—seriously cares about international consistency or respects the moral force of our judgment, which probably means it is a democracy and likely our ally. 2) The nation's potential target really poses a serious threat, so the claim of "pre-emptive self-defense" seems plausible. 3) The threat isn't serious enough that the nation will just do what it thinks it must do regardless of concerns about consistency, legality, or others' opinion. 4) The nation feels that it can act with relative safety because the target isn't yet very well-armed. 5) The nation won't be dissuaded from its action by the cost and danger of war or by the pressure of allies who will likely continue to counsel against war in most cases.
It's a nice set of factors, and I really have to think about it to decide whether or not I agree. I'd been thinking about the role of precedent so much in the context of domestic litigation that I'd been far too blind about comparisons to international law and diplomacy.
Thursday, March 13, 2003
it's my birthday!
I'm thirty!
Wednesday, March 12, 2003
also
Lesbians win birth-certificate case, courtesy of APwire.
random articles
Phillip Carter writes on Writ about Al Qaeda and the Advent of Multinational Terrorism: Why "Material Support" Prosecutions Are Key In the War on Terrorism.
Also, Sherry Colb writes on Writ about The Family that Dare Not Speak Its Name: Florida's Ban on Gay Adoption Reaches the U.S. Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit.
There's also an interesting article in Slate called "Should You Eat Fish?", advocating a simple proxy for sorting out which fish consumption[*] is less harmful to the environment and which fish consumption is more. There also seem to be a few helpful links at the bottom of the article.
And two funny bits from The Onion: Congress Accidentally Approves Arts Funding and Adulthood Spent Satisfying Childhood Desires (which, sadly enough, probably explains my love of baggy pockety pants, because I was always denied parachute pants as a kid).
[*] Uh, I mostly stopped eating fish when I stopped eating other meats, mostly for environmental reasons. I don't quite identify as vegetarian, though, because I have a wimpy dietary exception: I'll eat meat (fish or otherwise) on rare occasion when I feel like I need it to truly experience a culture's food traditions. Seemed like the best way of not giving short shrift to my longstanding interest in food history. Anyway. I rationalize my environmental impacts by telling myself that it's more than compensated for by the fact that I (a) don't drive, and (b) don't really use air conditioning.
Tuesday, March 11, 2003
in the news
EPA Puts Off Hudson River Dredging to '06, in the wires.
And, courtesy of salon.com, Bomb Nature, Improve Security.
Oh, and this is so cool: The Dancing Plant.
This quiz on Slate, on the other hand, is just amusing: Which Spam Filter Are You? I am, apparently, a Bayesian filter.
so i went to new orleans
And all I brought back were these lousy digital pictures.
Okay, that's not quite true. I've also brought back some anecdotes (as well as two used books).
(1) D's friend, who let us stay at his place in the French Quarter, totally rocks.
(2) New Orleans, post-Mardi Gras, smells a bit like vomit. I think I could've dealt with it in my college and grad school years (especially my college years, when I was remarkably tolerant of the baby roaches in my dorm room), but now I'm not so sure. Nevertheless . . .
(3) There are plenty of things to do in New Orleans besides the Mardi-Gras-ey stuff. For example, there is one bookstore, Crescent City Books, which rocks heavily. Their literature section is actually full of literature, and not crap, and even has old copies of Granta! (Which I really ought to subscribe to, only I can't keep up with McSweeney's as it is.) And D says the philosophy section is pretty decent, too. And they have great old maps I can't afford but can admire.
(4) New Orleans also has some delicious, but rich, food. But not so much for vegetarians. So D and I pulled our wimpy exceptions out (his being the fish-on-occasion exception, mine being the occasionally-okay-if-it's-a-core-part-of-a-culture's-cuisine exception).
(5) And some fabulous cemetaries.
(6) And even an indierock club to hide in when the Mardi-Gras-ers and the tourists get too overwhelming. "Yay, our people," D said, as we watched the gothy punk kids dance to glam rock of the 70s, 80s, and 90s.
i'm back
While I was gone, I missed out on Cass, dear Cass, writing an op-ed about how sunbathing is more dangerous than terrorism. Have I mentioned how much I adore Cass? Thanks to How Green for blogging this.
Friday, March 07, 2003
my ever-favorite topic
Can We Sleep Less? on Slate.
quick
Also, Toyota Settles Clean Air Suit By Fixing Old Diesel Engines, in the Washington Post.
And this is sad. Poor poor pygmy rabbits.
But hey! I'm leaving town tonight. We'll have fun in New Orleans for one and a half days (Billy claims he'll send a list of zydeco clubs and good restaurants, which, I suppose, I should filter for veggie-friendliness), then, well, there's work.
Wednesday, March 05, 2003
news
U.S. Coast Guard Deploys Environmental Warriors. Washington Sues U.S. Over Nuclear Waste. In the Washington Post, Mixed Verdict Offered On Alaska Oil Drilling and Threats Posed by Water Scarcity Detailed. In the New York Times, Unocal Is Sued by F.T.C. Over California Gas Patent.
On the international front, Six JCO employees sentenced over fatal '99 nuclear accident.
Someday I will find time to write up Seth Waxman's American Constitution Society lunchtime talk on campaign finance reform, the Environmental Law Institute's talk on environmental legislation this Congress, or the Georgetown International Environmental Law Review's symposium on the Johannesburg Summit. But possibly later.
Monday, March 03, 2003
stuffy stuff stuff
We'll be in New Orleans for the weekend, on Friday. This is a first. Not the being in New Orleans part.
Also, my thirtieth birthday is coming up! If you're in DC, and you like indie rock, feel free to drop by the Black Cat on March 13, to see Saturday Looks Good To Me, Mates of State, and Ranier Maria. I'm the short-haired Asian American girl with the bleached-blonde bangs. Or come to my birthday party on March 15! You can email me for directions.
Sunday, March 02, 2003
news
Forest Policy Benefits Timber Industry. And Green Groups Criticize Forest Ruling in Alaska.
In the New York Times, A Call for Softer, Greener Language. Also, there's Gay Couple Challenges Florida Ban on Homosexual Adoptions, a story that makes me a little weepy: "Mr. Smith, a 47-year-old lawyer, and Mr. Skahen, a 36-year-old real estate broker, would like to adopt the boys, who have lived with them as foster children for about two years each. But they are a gay couple and Florida is the only state that forbids any adoption by a homosexual. On Tuesday, a federal appeals court in Atlanta will hear their challenge to the law."
And Pentagon Faces New Questions on Old Problem.
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